Tattling?

My daughter is officially a teacher kid now. Today at school, another child knocked into her and she got a “boo boo”. Of course, the teacher can’t say who actually did it, so the teacher started out with “A child in the class,” blah blah blah. I couldn’t even really hear her because my LO starts jumping up and down, pointing at the other child and saying his name.

But that’s not even the best part…

Two minutes later, after we had picked up all of her stuff to take home, the other kid’s parent walks in. LO walks right up to the dad and says “So and so gave me a booboo!” Oops!

And with that, we left.

Team Spirit

Today was team spirit day at my school. Of course, I had to wear an awesome shirt, so I asked DH if I could borrow one of his hockey jerseys. I didn’t think anything of it, but apparently, LO thought I was stealing. After getting myself dressed, I went to wake LO. She sat up in bed and looked at me quizzically. Then came the interrogation…

“Mommy, that not your shirt!”

“That Daddy shirt.”

“Daddy be mad.”

“You wear your shirt.”

She kept repeating over and over “That NOT your shirt!” I had to bring her to DH so he could tell her it was okay for me to wear the jersey. She kept pointing at me the whole morning. I think she still thinks I stole it.

A run in with a Sharpie marker…

I label LO’s stuff for daycare everyday. Tuesday morning, I did my usual labeling and since LO was half asleep, got her ready quickly and ran out the door…. leaving the dark blue permanent marker on my coffee table.

Fast forward to after school. LO and I walk in the door with groceries and mail in hand. I start putting away the groceries and get the bills done and suddenly realize that it’s quiet. TOO quiet. I turn around and LO has the permanent marker open and is furiously scribbling… on. our. coffee table. AHHHHH! Oh, and to top it off, it was also DH’s birthday.

Think, think, think. When a substitute teacher accidentally writes on a whiteboard in permanent marker, there’s only one way to get it off. Little known teacher fact – If you have to get permanent marker off of a slick, shiny surface like a whiteboard or coffee table, you can use a whiteboard marker over it and wipe off with a paper towel.

It took a while (and a lot of whiteboard marker) and I probably looked completely ridiculous coloring on my coffee table with whiteboard marker, but it ALL came off. Thank goodness! No more Sharpies for LO!

Oh yeah, and she also looks like a blue tiger with stripes all over her legs. Maybe after tonight’s bath, that will be gone too.

Toddler Parent Rules

Rule #1 – Do not start a game with a toddler that you don’t plan on repeating over and over again at least twenty five times. Also, do not start a game that you will be too tired from after the first fifteen times. Then you’ll be tired and have an angry toddler on your hands.

Rule #2 – Do not give toddlers any food you cannot wash out of the carpet and/or feed to the dog.

Rule #3 – Do not give toddlers anything in the car that can be used as a small projectile.

Rule #4 – “That” is always more interesting than “this”. Once they have “that”, “that” becomes “this” and is no longer what they want. Now they want some other “that”. Then a different “that”. Then maybe they will go back to wanting what they had before. Which you can no longer find because they used it as a small projectile. Repeat.

Rule #5 – Whatever bedtime routine you thought you had will change. Over and over again.

Rule #6 – Clean clothes will always wind up on the floor. Especially when your toddler is in “Fill and Spill” mode.

Rule #7 – Don’t try to tell your toddler to stay put anywhere. As long as they can move somewhere else, they will.

Rule #8 – Hairstyles will always look best right after you have finished. Three minutes after that (if you are lucky and they last that long), it is all fair game.

Rule #9 – Everything is more fun with a bubble machine.

Rule #10 – Big kids can entertain a toddler. Some adults can also double as big kids.

Do you have any rules you would add?

Swim classes, a mother’s own personal torture

We signed LO up for swim classes a few months ago.

I had envisioned the two of us in the pool, calmly blowing bubbles and singing cute nursery rhymes as we splashed and smiled in the water. What I didn’t envision was a screaming toddler, thrashing about and trying to claw her way out of the pool while I am practically screaming the words to “Twinkle, twinkle little star”. Unfortunately, the former only happens in dream sequences.

I find myself completely dreading swim classes. But, I do see them working. LO
Is getting better at knowing where the wall is and she knows to try to turn over if she’s in the water to lay on her back. And at least she still likes to go in the pool; she just doesn’t like the classes.

Apparently, we aren’t the only parents that this happens to. In fact, I always hear the story about my own days at baby swim lessons. It was a five day course: Monday, I cried; Tuesday, I cried; Wednesday, I cried; Thursday, my mom cried; Friday, I swam.

So I guess LO is more like me when it comes to swim classes.

Summer vacation is over!

How did these past nine weeks pass by so quickly? I start back at work tomorrow and LO starts back at daycare. I am very excited for her actually. She started walking a few weeks ago and daycare is going to be a completely new experience for her now. She’s not a baby anymore. She really is a toddler.

The other night when I was giving her a bath, I realized that some of the things she used to play with are now completely different and new to her because of her new found skills. She plays with this one toy in her bath, an octopus ring game from skip hop. She has always been intrigued by the fountain in the toy but only recently has she learned that mommy can make the fountain work. So the entire bath consisted of her pointing at the fountain and her water bucket to get me to pour the water in. Watching her learn things like cause and effect is so cool.

Can’t wait for her to keep learning.

A girlie girl?

I don’t know how it happened but suddenly LO has turned into a girlie girl. She likes putting on “necklaces” which at the moment are made up of particular shaped mega blocks. She loves wearing her baby bracelet that says her name and whenever she gets a chance she will try and wear my jewelry. I’m not a girlie girl in the least. I don’t wear a lot of makeup and I wear the same jewelry every day.
It’s really great to see her develop her own personality.

What will she remember?

I stumbled across this blog post today… http://www.babble.com/toddler/toddler-development/toddler-memories-of-childhood/

DH and I often talk about this topic. How much does LO really remember? How much will she remember when she is older? Will she remember making banana cream pudding with me yesterday, the lemon jello we made and ate at a picnic in our backyard, the sugar cookies that got all stuck together when we put them on a plate to cool? Will she remember going to the park with daddy and me for the pony and train rides? How about the trip to the zoo and the aquarium? What about the time she and I went to the butterfly sanctuary or the day we picked strawberries and ate them from the fields?

The answer… maybe. But she will definitely remember the family time, the laughing, and the loving arms of mommy and daddy… She will know she means the world to us… and that’s enough for me.

A new title…

As a teacher, we wear many hats – educator, nurse, mediator, judge, counselor, and so on. We are considered a teacher the moment we step into the classroom the first day of our new job.

When do we become a parent? When is the moment when I could call myself a mother? I held LO in my arms that first time and I felt an overwhelming feeling of love and an urge to protect her. Mothers wear every hat imaginable. I’m someone’s mother! It doesn’t define me and I’m still my own person but somehow I feel like being a mother has always been my purpose.
Check back soon for an update on my own teachable moment. 🙂

A riddle analogy for taking your children… anywhere.

I remember when I first had LO. I had gotten pretty good at taking her on quick trips to the grocery store, in and out of the pharmacy and pediatrician office, and through the drive through at Starbucks.

The dog was up for her yearly shots when LO was about 3 months old. I decided I had been able to take her all over lately, so surely I could handle that…

Have you ever seen the riddle about a farmer, chicken, fox, and a bag of feed? A farmer needs to get all three things across a lake: a chicken, fox, and a bag of feed. The boat only has enough room for the farmer and one item and you can’t leave anything on the other side that might eat the other (i.e. the chicken with the feed or the chicken with the fox).

That’s what it feels like when you have to take the baby with the dog. I’m sure it’s worse with more than one child too.

First, baby goes in stroller. Then dog goes on leash. Then dog gets in car with leash. Then baby is put in the car seat. Then the stroller gets put in the back. If you have any other items, good luck to you.

I found myself thinking of that first trip today… since then, I have gotten much better at these types of outings. We even took the dog to the dog park today.